Sentencing memorandum: Joplin sex offender should receive 10 years on child pornography charges

(Note: This post has been changed since it was originally published. The photo that originally was published and some of the background information was for the wrong person, who had the same first, middle and last names as the person who is being sentenced Wednesday. I apologize for the error.)

In a sentencing memorandum filed Friday in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, the government asked that Richard Allen Miller, 32, Joplin, be sentenced to 10 years for receiving and distributing child pornography.

"The defendant sought out and deliberately downloaded depictions of children, some as young as infants, being raped, sodomized, and otherwise subjected to unthinkable acts of sexual and physical abuse," the memorandum reads.

The recommended sentence, 120 months, is only one month less than the maximum the government can recommend under federal sentencing guidelines.

The memorandum noted what the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force discovered during its investigation.








The defendant’s illicit activities were uncovered after uploading a large number of files depicting child pornography. One such file depicted a prepubescent female, wearing a mask, bound by both wrists and ankles. 

The child is forced to perform oral sex on an adult male and is later anally penetrated by a sexual device. 

Investigators were able to identify the defendant as the source of the imagery, resulting in the issuance of a warrant to search the defendant’s Dropbox account. 

The defendant was later questioned by investigators and readily confessed to ingesting methamphetamine and viewing depictions of child pornography. Disturbingly, the defendant also admitted to exchanging images with a minor female.

His sentencing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Wednesday in Springfield.